Updates

Updates: Volume VIII, Issue 1

The case against Barronelle Stutzman—the florist from Richland, Washington, who is being sued for declining, because of her Christian beliefs, to design creative floral arrangements for, and take part in, a same-sex marriage ceremony—is proceeding in federal and state courts. Although Barronelle has both employed and served homosexuals (including the defendants) through her business across many years, state officials have singled her out for legal persecution, seeking not only to shut down her business, but to take her personal assets as well.

In December, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a motion asking the state court to dismiss claims against Barronelle in her personal capacity, while the state and the ACLU asked the court to find her liable without a trial or jury determination.
Bringing My husband’s Killers to Justice (Volume V, Issue 2)

On August 26, 2008, in the eastern India state of Orissa, a mob of radical Hindus armed with deadly weapons attacked and brutally murdered Pastor Akbar Digal, an attack witnessed by his wife, Ludhiya Digal. His body was subsequently burned by the members of the mob. The murder was part of a massive wave of anti-Christian violence throughout the region that year, in which more than 5,000 Christian homes and institutions were burned, some 50,000 believers were displaced, and over a hundred people were martyred by being burned or hacked to death.

In response to this violence, ADF-India established a team of attorneys and support staff, working with otherwise reluctant public prosecutors and victims to bring the mob perpetrators to justice. To date, in Orissa, ADF-India has brought 143 criminal cases resulting in 304 persons convicted for engaging in this violence—
including the leaders of the mob that murdered Pastor Digal, all of whom were sentenced to life imprisonment.